Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-09-23

The railway when Il came into the
human world brought a demand for
new kind OF mental force or aptitude.
The railway man from the president To
the brakeman must possess n quickncss
to perceive, a quicluess 20 act and n
patience to master detail; an omission Of
"A task may cost great sums or may de-
stroy life. When superintendent passes
over his road in n private car and cy-
amno5 the track and bridges while he is
moving at the rate of thirty miles IN
hour, he Is not necessarily q criminal, be
may be only Cn intellectual imbCcic. He
should be removed from railway service
and be commended to the task Of super
vision of On OK or pack horse service, One
day some men were moving weeds, nail
ing up loose boards and withdrawing at
n railway station, and confess d the mo-
tive of such industry was 10 be found in
the fact that the superintendent was 10
pass along next day. These men all knew
the kind Of lightning inspection that
would be made 10y their chef.
In the history Of national banks one
can read the shallow import Of the word
inspection, ~ but there the mental weak
ness Of an inspector costs the country
money and not life For bank 10 fail in
few days after having been pronounced
unusually sound Is an event not wholly
unknown; but the depositors are not
killed nor mangled II is in railroad
work mental weakness assumes its most
dangerous shape. A facilc, lax, easy
going mind may in the railway profession
become rs fatal as Il can of dynamite or
an earthquake.
NEW FORM or MIND.
Many railway slaughters have resulted
from the slOwness Of educational pro-
| cesses. The new iron road has created
demand for new form OF mind, but il
cannot at once supply the demand. Mr.
! Galloway, one Of the most conscientious
and ideal railway men on the continent
said once that each passenger train which
! runs from Chicago To New York must pass
! through the hands q jO0men who are wide
awake TO each duty When one pon9ers
upon this statement, and remembers how
! difficult it is to find 800 capable men in a
! single row, the wonder comes That a train
ever passes over 900 mile path without
being wrecked or injured.
Why should the public, which cannot
! inspect Il bank or milk can. rail az the
men who cqine only loieWbiy near IN
! speeding railway The railway Is help
! ing TO make n better kind Of brain. hut
! brain is of slow growth \ c0lored man
was recently asked at what time the cars
passed his cabin. and his reply was that
they went north in the morning and south
in the afternoon. To lead such "a man MP
TO n conception Of such divisions Of time
as > 09 or $40 or DID, would be an educa-
tional task Of no little weight. To give
such a mortal n place upon a railway
would be criminal, for il he id not Kill
others he would soon Kill himself.
Only last week one Of these boys of the
farm, allurcd by false vanity TO seek rail-
way work met his death because OF men.
tai laxncss. lie was made switChman at
a village station. The sole Of one shoe
became unsewed. Thus was he made IL
able to be thrown down. IIo TOOL! the
risk from day 20 day. Al last, as he set
a switch and stepped quickly, his shoe
sole caught ON spike head AID death
came quickly His method with his shoes
on the farm failed as method for the
new surroundings.
QUACK RAILROAD MEN
Tie educational power Of the railway is
kept back Dy the pitiable truth that
many Of its officials are not students of n
great art, but are only spectators in land
or stocks, when not absolute thieves.
Quack railroad men are more numerous
than quack doctors. Good men are dis
charged 10 make room for favoritcs and
thus fortunes and life are placed at the
mercy of unframed minds In the army
a colonel was displaced thai some cousin
Of the general IS might have the position.
When the new colonel rode ont TO exercise
the boys az arms he told them ''to do as
they had done yesterday
The railway service is no doubt suffer-
ing much from the presence Of officials
who know more about money and luxury
than they know about bridges and road
beds. Under the rule Of these captains
the receipts from all traffic flow toward
New York, and soon the bank account is
large and the road worn ont and danger
Gus The income is the main thing, the
art nothing
Some rousls are managed by railway art.
The president himself could run "a locomo-
tive or construct a bridge or keep awake
at a switch These roads are under the
control Of the railway intellect, and not of
the champagne and private car genius.
May the time soon come when SO trcmen-
dous thing rs the railway shall be man
AGED by the new Kind of intellectual force
called railway brain.-David Swing in
Chicago Journal.